Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-29

side of the arm holes of his vest does not feel
out of place by the young swell in dude like
dress who pushes his way along the street
beside him. There are plenty of well dressed
men here, and plenty who apparently care
nothing for dress You see on the same
street the cowboy like, sombrero hated
figure Looping along on his raw boned wiry
mustang and the young Bostonian, who is
here loaning money on real estate, riding his
light buggy behind high stopper going side
by side. and Kansas City has some as fine
horses as you will find anywhere. There are
plenty of poor horses, too, and n most ia
miliar figure is the cantering rider who rocks
through the city with his pantaloons in his
boots big spur on his heel and no martin
gale to his bride to keep his horses head in
rein. -.
Rents are high in Kansas City, and a lead
ing business man who came here from
Quincy, Ills, tells me that house which
would cost him SIS n month there will rent
here from $50 to $15 a month, and that it is
hard to get one at that. Business blocks rent
well and as an instance | was shown one
very fine stone building of about five stories
which cost $3.50, 600 to build, and the rents of
which aggregate 5000 year
One of the most extraordinary cases of
the 6Ox120 feet of ground of which spoke in
my last letter as belonging to an independent
old lady who would not sell it to the New
York Life Insurance company. This com
pany had a whole block of ground with the
exception of this piece, and it wanted this to
complete the site for ten story building
which they propose to erect, costing about
100000 They offered her many times its
value, one proposition being over s24, 600
She refused. They then offered to pay her
such rental for fifty years lease that the
aggregage rent in this time would amount to
Sl,0OO,000, or $4,000 a year. She refused
this also, and the company have begun their
foundations to build around her 1t is said
she wants $500, 900 for the property, and
whether she will get it remains to be seen.
This Independent old lady's name is Miss or
Mrs March. She comes, | am told from the
south, and is said to never sell anything She
owns lands in Kentucky which she has had
for years, and she is as bright business
woman as lives west of the Mississippi river
In the meantime her property is covered with
several small one and two story business
blocks, and it probably pays her several
thousand dollars year.
XIX
There are great many very rich men in
Kansas City, said one of its leading bankers
to me today. The town has q number of
millionaires and it has many men who are
worth between $1,000 and S500,O 900 1t is
true that eastern capitalists have invested
largely here, and l know of a half dozen
Boston men each of whom owns several
millions of dollars worth of our property
The street cars of the city are entirely owned
by eastern men, and the city stands in the
same condition as Chicago did Just after the
fire. Eastern men had so much invested that
they had to make the city go. They put
more to their investments and it was their eff
forts largely that built Chicago 1t is the
same here. There is so much capital involved
that the town has to go on, The Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe railroad men also are
largely interested in Kansas City, and there
will be no lack of push to keep it going We
have, however, as l said, great deal of
money of our own and the rise in values has
made many men wealthy. Many farmer
about the city owned farms of from 100 to
POO and 800 acres. The growth of the city
and the laying out of such an area of lots has
made this land worth $1,000, $1,000, $4,000
and even 81 600 an acre, and the farmers
have awakened to find themselves rich Then
the jumps upward in real estate have been so
huDlc lllSlue VI JUe Guy lidl some men
have made a great deal. Not long ago
on certain street near a certain
point, jumped upwards $500 front foot be-
tween and Q o'clock p IN. The jump came
from the fact that hotel to cost 500, 600 had
been located there and one of my friends
bought n lot there that night and sold it the
next morning, so that he made $4,000"
"Dont you think property is too high here
now"
at probably is in some places, and notably
so in the lands outside of the city. 1t may be
also inside, but don't know. | have thought
it was too high before, but it keeps going up
and the town keeps on growing. There may
be fall, but there is no sign of it as yet"
+**
Nevertheless, | would think twice before
buying Kansas City property for quick rise
at its current values. The city is very ragged
as yet, and it has room inside of its present
limits for another city nearly as big as it is
There are many good lots yet unbuilt upon,
and though new blocks are fast going up, it
will be some time before the town fills up its
present gaps, without attempting to build up
a score of villages i'll the suburbs as it is now
doing. 1t is bound to be great city some
day, but whether it has not gotten ahead of
its growth at present is a question which is
not settled in the minds of the most conserv-
alive of its own citizens and of your humble
servant, FRANK G. CARPENTER.